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In a pilot scheme over the past two
years, the BBC has televised a number of programmes in 3D including
Strictly Come Dancing, Christmas family drama Mr Stink, natural history
documentary Walking with Dinosaurs and the London 2012 Olympics.

Only this week it announced the Wimbledon singles semi-finals and finals will air in the format.

The BBC's head of 3D, Kim Shillinglaw, said there would be no more broadcasts in the medium following a two-year trial as viewers weren't keen

But although about 1.5million homes
have 3D televisions, only around half of those able to watch Olympics
coverage in 3D did so.

Only around 5 per cent of potential viewers
watched Mr Stink and the Queen’s Speech in 3D.

Miss Shillinglaw told RadioTimes.com:
‘I have never seen a very big appetite for 3D television in the UK.
Watching 3D is quite a hassly experience in the home. You have got to
find your glasses.’

She added TV viewers watch in a different way to
cinema-goers, who have embraced the concept.

The 50th anniversary Doctor Who will still be broadcast in 3D in November, as will planned nature series Hidden Kingdom.

Miss Shillinglaw will then concentrate
on her main role as head of science and natural history.

She added:
‘We will see what happens when the recession ends and there may be more
take-up of sets but I think the BBC will be having a wait-and-see.

'It’s
the right time for a good old pause. I am not sure our job is to call
the whole 3D race.’

NEW SERIES FOR ATTENBOROUGH

David Attenborough plans to make
another natural history series for BBC1 before his 90th birthday. It
comes four weeks after the 87-year-old had urgent heart surgery to be
fitted with a pacemaker.

Miss Shillinglaw said: ‘Is it the end
of David’s landmark series? God no. He is doing a couple of things and
there is a landmark in the pipeline.’

The 3D pilot was not part of the
Corporation’s doomed Digital Media Initiative project, abandoned in May
after five years and £100million. The announcement comes after it was
revealed cinema ticket sales for 3D films have slumped by a third in two
years.

Sales fell from a high of 27.5 per
cent of the total box office in 2010 to 18 per cent last year.

In 2010
3D films grossed £305.3million in UK cinemas, but by 2012 this had
slumped to just £213.7million.

Veteran film critic Barry Norman said that audiences have grown tired of 3D’s ‘novelty’.

Ms Shillinglaw said watching 3D was a 'hassly' experience and you have to find your glasses before watching it